Steve Carter, The Man who Found Himself on the Missing Children Database

For most of his life, Steve Carter believed he knew exactly who he was. He had been adopted from Honolulu, Hawaii, as a boy and grew up in the suburbs of New Jersey, surrounded by love and care.

However, as he entered his thirties, Steve became curious about his biological parents.

**A childhood photograph of Steve Carter, listed on the Missing Children’s database under the name Marx Panama Moriarty Barnes**

His quest led him to an online database of missing children, where he discovered he was the subject of an unsolved missing persons case. Local law enforcement had been searching for him for decades.

Background

Tenzin Amea, born on January 16th, 1977, was adopted from a foster home in Honolulu, Hawaii, when he was just 4 years old. Steve and Pat Carter, who lived in Hawaii at the time, met little Tenzin and immediately decided they wanted to adopt him.

During a conversation with the social worker, the couple learned that Tenzin ended up in foster care after his mother, Jane Amea, was arrested in the summer of 1977. Following her arrest, she shared the baby’s name, his birthday, and that his father was of native Hawaiian descent.

Once the adoption was finalized in September 1980, Tenzin Amea was given the name William Steven Tenzin Carter, though everyone called him Steve.

The Carters moved to Medford Lakes, New Jersey, and they stayed in touch with Steve’s foster home and the woman who looked after him for years.

According to Steve, his childhood was perfect. He had wonderful parents who were supportive and always there for him. The Carters were open with Steve, and he knew that he was adopted. The family hoped that his biological parents would reach out to them one day, but that never happened.

A seed of doubt

On Christmas 2010, Steve received a DNA-testing kit as a gift from his family. Although his birth mother had told the police his father was of native Hawaiian descent, Steve had blonde hair, light skin, and blue eyes, which suggested he didn’t inherit any of his father’s features.

When the results came back in 2011, the Carters were confused because the DNA analysis revealed Steve was actually of Scandinavian descent.

This information planted a seed of doubt that something wasn’t quite right with the story given by Steve’s mother back in 1977.

At that time, Steve was in a long-term relationship and was thinking of starting a family of his own. And so, he felt a strong desire to learn more about his origins.

A couple of weeks later, then 34-year-old Steve was getting ready for work, and he had CNN on in the background.

A woman named Carlina White was talking about her experience of finding her baby photo on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website. Later that day, Steve was using his iPad when an article about Carlina caught his attention.

The article revealed that Carlina, who now lived in Atlanta, Georgia, had been snatched from a Harlem hospital in 1987 when she was only 3 weeks old. An unknown woman posing as a nurse simply walked out with baby Carlina concealed in her smock during the early morning hours.

Carlina’s story had a happy ending because she managed to find her biological family, and her discovery became a media sensation.

Inspired by Carlina and believing it was a sign, Steve visited the website mentioned in the article and began browsing through different cases of missing children.

He focused on the children reported missing in Hawaii over the past 34 years, and suddenly, he came across an age-progressed image that looked exactly like him.

The photo showed what a boy named Marx Panama Moriarty Barnes might look like at age 29. Alongside the age-progressed image was a photo of Steve as an infant.

Steve quickly shared the link to the page with his parents, who were in absolute shock because the missing person closely resembled Steve.

The Carters were also puzzled because if Steve had been reported missing to the Honolulu Police Department, how had they been allowed to adopt him legally?

**The Missing Children’s database entry for Marx Panama Moriarty Barnes, showing both his baby photo and an age-progressed composite — the discovery that shocked Steve and his adoptive parents.**

However, they did remember that Steve’s birth certificate was issued when he was one year old, which was yet another strange detail about his past.

An insane discovery

Without hesitation, Steve contacted the Hawaiian authorities and provided as much information as he could.

Three months later, he was asked to submit a DNA sample in order to confirm he was Marx Panama Moriarty Barnes. The results arrived months later, and Steve was, in fact, the missing boy.

Finding out that he had a whole different family out there who had been searching for him for decades was overwhelming, and Steve needed some time to process the news.

The police informed him he had a half-sister named Jennifer Monnheimer, who was eight years old when he went missing. Jennifer had been the one who urged the authorities to take another look at his disappearance.

Even though Jennifer believed her mother and younger half-brother were deceased, she felt there was more to their story. In 2001, she called the Honolulu Police Department, which led to a sketch artist creating the age-progression photo that Steve eventually saw online.

A couple of weeks after he learned his true identity, Steve was ready to reach out to his half-sister and his biological father.

Jennifer was living in New Mexico and working as a school counselor. The two bonded immediately over their shared similarities and interests.

On February 20th, 2012, Steve called his biological father, Mark Barnes, who now lived in Willits, California. With the help of Mark and Jennifer, along with the case files obtained from the Honolulu Police Department, Steve managed to piece together his past.

The story of Marx Panama Moriarty Barnes

Marx Panama Moriarty Barnes was actually born on January 17th, 1977. His parents, Mark Barnes and Charlotte Moriarty, lived in a studio apartment in Hau’ula, near the Kamehameha Highway.

**Mark Barnes, Charlotte Moriarty, and baby Marx before his disappearance in 1977.**

Mark was a journalist and a Vietnam veteran, while Charlotte was an artist. The couple met in 1975 and quickly fell in love. The relationship lasted until Charlotte walked away with baby Marx.

According to Mark, Charlotte would frequently disappear for three to four days and then return, acting as if nothing had happened. So when she went out for a walk with baby Marx on June 21st, 1977, and failed to come back, Mark was sure she would be home soon.

However, he did find the stroller abandoned at the nearby bus station, which caused him to worry a bit, but not enough to call the police. Days passed, and still, there was no sign of Charlotte.

Now convinced something bad had happened to Charlotte and the baby, Mark reported them missing to the Honolulu Police Department 20 days later. Law enforcement started searching for them, but Mark also drove around the island every day, hoping to spot the two somewhere.

He printed flyers and distributed them around, but it seemed like no one had any information about Charlotte or the baby. What Mark didn’t know was that his son, Marx, was already in protective care under a false name.

On the day Charlotte went for a walk with her baby, she entered a house that wasn’t hers. The owner of the property returned home soon after, found an unknown woman inside, and called the police.

Charlotte was taken into custody, where she said her name was Jane Amea. She introduced her son, Marx, as Tenzin Amea. After the arrest, Charlotte was placed in a psychiatric facility. Although doctors advised her to stay, she left a couple of days later.

She is still listed as missing, but Mark believes she left the island and traveled to East Asia for a fresh start. Her current whereabouts remain unknown, and she has not reached out to her daughter, Jennifer, either.

With his mother gone, baby Marx was taken to a foster home located just 30 miles from Mark’s house under a made-up name. The false identity was the reason why law enforcement was unable to track the baby down and reunite him with his biological father. Three and a half years later, he was adopted by the Carters.

Aftermath

After speaking with his biological father, Steve learned quite a bit about his mother, including the details of mental health struggles, which worsened after she gave birth.

According to Mark, when she came home from the hospital, Charlotte refused to take care of the baby for three weeks and walked around the house wearing a blindfold. This behaviour strongly suggested that Charlotte likely suffered from undiagnosed postpartum depression.

Steve stated he doesn’t blame his biological mother for her actions since it was evident she was suffering.

During their phone calls, Steve also learned that Mark had once been suspected of ending the lives of both him and his mother and had to undergo a lie detector test twice. Nevertheless, Mark never lost hope that he would one day reconnect with his son.

Steve Carter, who trusted his instincts, managed to solve one of the longest missing-child cases in the United States – his own disappearance. His story gives hope to all parents who are still searching for their children.